Here I am, a few days into working at the MTV Video Music Awards. We've had a four days of programming and two days off. I'm really just the second programmer, running the audience lighting. So far, pretty straight forward, but still terribly boring. We don't have a set to light yet, nor do we have a script to break down. We're just filling the consoles with colour chases and ballyhoos. Hoping we can apply at least 20% of what we write.
I guess the most interesting thing so far is that I'm now a member of IATSE Local 33. Yes, in order for me to work on this gig, I had to join Local 33. For those who don't know, IATSE stands for "International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees", or the stagehands union. Yep, I'm a union guy now. They can now take 4% of my paycheck for "union dues", but they don't have to guarantee me to work for them again. The plus side is that they waived all of my initiation fees. Don't know how much that is. I do know that the other IATSE local 728, which is more for studio electrical lighting technicians (33 is more for movies and theater in L.A.), the initiation fees are $5500 and then about $250 a quarter. I can only assume 33 is about that much, or higher. So I guess getting a high initiation fee waived is a good thing, if they call me again.
On Saturday, I received a large envelope from 33. The information it contained didn't tell me much more than, "Don't call us, we'll call you." Which again reinforces my belief that they will never call me for work. And I wouldn't be surprised. They are more about the electricians and carpenters than they are about the, how to put it without sounding offensive... "specialized" positions, like programmers. 728 is more about that.
My big hope is that if they do call me again and I do start doing more work for 33, or even if I make enough days and have the $5500 sitting around to join Local 728, is that I finally get benefits. Namely health insurance.
It's been an interesting ride so far in terms of health insurance. After I graduated from CalArts, I didn't really have any health coverage. After I broke my foot (which was covered by workmans comp), I looked into getting health insurance and went with the cheapest, Kaiser. I grew up with Kaiser coverage in Hawai'i, and as I kid, I didn't really have any complaints, so it didn't phase me, and heck, it was the cheapest.
Nicole is covered by Jam Productions. Which has a rather good, but narrow plan. Her health insurance can't cover me, and... As soon as Sean Patrick pops out, it won't cover him either.
Lately, Nicole and I have been having the discussion about how to cover Sean Patrick. One would think, that we could just put him on Kaiser with me and that would be that. Well, Kaiser won't insure him for the first month of his little life. This seems like a really bad, but smart plan on their part. Smart, because lots of things can be wrong in the first month, and bad because it strikes me as being very non-compassionate on their part.
With some fancy footwork, and help from a very nice lady at Blue Cross, we're putting Sean Patrick on their health plan. Blue Cross is only slightly better, where they technically won't cover Sean Patrick for his first week of life, but the lady said if we pre-date it to start on his birthday then he's covered although we won't see any paperwork or other information for a week. She also had us fill out most of the information online so that we can file immediately.
Cedars-Sinai is where Nicole goes. We did a tour of the hospital, and wouldn't you know it, the birthing rooms all have wireless internet. I can see it now, Sean Patrick comes out, "Pop!" and Nicole turns to me and says, "Hand me my laptop so I can insure him!" Well, maybe not that bad, but it would be funny.
That's all I've got. One more week at the MTV VMA's. So if you're bored on Sunday night, the 7th of September, and have access to MTV, watch me ballyhoo some lights on the audience.
Oh, and we bought a video camera. Sorry Ray, after all your good advice, we bought a Canon FS100 which takes an SD flash memory card. We figured we'd just be copying the movies to the Mac, then copying the good stuff to DVD's to keep forever.
I'll probably have to go buy another external hard drive to save all the movies too...
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2 comments:
Happy belated cake day. I hope that you now remember to bring the power cord for the laptop so that you can begin work on covering Sean Patrick immediately. At the very least you can write a blog post.
i can see the commercial now....mother typing at laptop while simultaneously popping out the baby.
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